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The Fourth Day – Sun and Moon and Stars

We continue our reflections on the new creation that is ours in Christ, using Genesis 1: 14-19, John 1: 43-51, John 9: 1-5 and John 12: 35-36
Opening Liturgy
And God said, "Let there be lights in the expanse of the sky to separate the day from the night, and let them serve as signs to mark seasons and days and years, and let them be lights in the expanse of the sky to give light on the earth."
And it was so.
God made two great lights—the greater light to govern the day and the lesser light to govern the night. He also made the stars. God set them in the expanse of the sky to give light on the earth, to govern the day and the night, and to separate light from darkness.
And God saw that it was good.
And there was evening, and there was morning
the fourth day.
Genesis 1:14-19 (ANIV)

Reading
The next day Jesus decided to leave for Galilee. Finding Philip, he said to him, "Follow me." Philip, like Andrew and Peter, was from the town of Bethsaida. Philip found Nathanael and told him, "We have found the one Moses wrote about in the Law, and about whom the prophets also wrote—Jesus of Nazareth, the son of Joseph."
"Nazareth! Can anything good come from there?" Nathanael asked. "Come and see," said Philip. When Jesus saw Nathanael approaching, he said of him, "Here is a true Israelite, in whom there is nothing false."
"How do you know me?" Nathanael asked. Jesus answered, "I saw you while you were still under the fig-tree before Philip called you."
Then Nathanael declared, "Rabbi, you are the Son of God; you are the King of Israel."
Jesus said, "You believe because I told you I saw you under the fig-tree. You shall see greater things than that." He then added, "I tell you the truth, you shall see heaven open, and the angels of God ascending and descending on the Son of Man."
John 1:43-51 (ANIV)

Reflection
I was always taught to say what I saw… not to beat around the bush… When I first heard about him, I wasn’t impressed… and I said so… But he quickly won me over and told me I would see amazing things… And I have… But I still don’t understand… I still don’t see the whole picture… Indeed the more I’ve seen, the more I’ve realized how blind I’ve been… and still am… Blinded by what I’ve been taught… By my own preconceptions… Limited by the horizons of my own understanding…
But I want to see more… I’m fed up stumbling around in the half-light of night… I want the dawn to break… I want God to fling wide the gates of heaven and let his glory shine on the earth… I want to see…

Reading
As he passed by, he saw a man blind from his birth. And his disciples asked him, "Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?"
Jesus answered, "It was not that this man sinned, or his parents, but that the works of God might be made manifest in him. We must work the works of him who sent me, while it is day; night comes, when no one can work. As long as I am in the world, I am the light of the world." As he said this, he spat on the ground and made clay of the spittle and anointed the man's eyes with the clay, saying to him, "Go, wash in the pool of Silo'am" (which means Sent). So he went and washed and came back seeing.
John 9:1-7 (RSV)
Prayer
May we go into this day, knowing that we are a new creation, children of God, who has known us since before the dawning of the first day. May you open our eyes to see you in the glory of creation, in the sun and moon and stars and in everyone we meet this day and every day, through Jesus Christ. AMEN
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